Category Archives: Aviation

General Aviation

2014 “Women in Aviation” – Truckee Tahoe AirShow & Family Festival

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Some of the world’s top air show performers have committed to perform at the 2014 Truckee Tahoe AirShow & Family Festival (TTAS&FF), including three-time national Aerobatic Champion and National Aviation Hall of Fame member, Patty Wagstaff. Immediately following Wagstaff’s commitment to perform, show coordinators themed the 2014 event “Women in Aviation”.

Featured women in aviation will include the AirShow’s Grand Marshal, Truckee local Sandy Wiederkehr. Her extensive aviation background includes being a Retired Flying Tiger/Fed Ex captain, holding helicopter and glider ratings and logging hundreds, if not thousands, of skydiving jumps. AirShow speaker forums and vendor booths will feature local women aviation clubs and women aviation authors such as Jeane Slone, author of “She Flew Bombers”. Highlighted aerobatic performers for this year include Dan Buchannan; Jon Melby; Kent Pietsch, Patty Wagstaff and the RedStar Formation Team.

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Warbirds

CAF AirPower Tour Ready To Hit The West Coast!

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

The Commemorative Air Force’s iconic Boeing B-29 Superfortress returns to California and the Northwest U.S. this summer. It will be FIFI’s first visit in almost 20 years to many locations which include over 15 cities in Arizona, California, Washington, Idaho, Utah and Colorado.Highlighting the tour will be FIFI’s return to Boeing Field in Seattle. The B-29 is one of 1,100 produced at the Boeing Renton facility and the only B-29 in the world that still flies.

The year 2014 marks FIFI’s 40th year of flight with the Commemorative Air Force (CAF). The airplane, rescued and restored by the CAF in the early 1970s, is a regular feature at airports and airshows all across the country. In fact, the B-29 Squadron of the CAF was the first group to begin touring historic war birds in 1974. Now, 40 years later, FIFI still barnstorms the country from coast to coast bringing the sights, sounds and smells of World War II aviation history to audiences across the United States.

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General Aviation

White House budget contains user fees despite opposition from, well, everyone except the guy in the White House

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Wednesday morning, the White House released it’s requested budget for the 2015 Fiscal Year. The epic tome is almost 250 pages, and was delivered to Congress considerably later than any other time in the history of the United States.

Once again, user fees for aviation were part of the president’s new budget proposal, even though there is blowback and a strong opposition from Congress and the aviation community.

Apparently, nobody in the White House listens to the American people.

From the AOPA:

“We are disappointed that the President doesn’t seem to have gotten the message” said AOPA President Mark Baker. “With Congress on our side, I am confident we can prevent this arbitrary proposal from becoming a reality, but we have to stay vigilant. We are working hard to make general aviation more accessible and affordable, and whether you call it a user fee or a surcharge, we will keep fighting against proposals like this that would raise the cost of flying.”

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Warbirds

Fantasy of Flight Takes a Bold Next Step on Its Journey

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Fantasy of Flight owner, Kermit Weeks, announced today that effective Sunday, April 6, the attraction will be closing its doors as a public attraction and will focus on its private event business and  the design and development of a new future destination attraction. “Although we are located just 20 minutes west of Walt Disney World, we’re currently outside the center of mass tourism and not perceived of as a destination.  We have a great product, but people have a misperception of what we offer,” said Weeks. “After 18 years of being in operation, it’s time we close the attraction and move forward toward creating the vision for what I know Fantasy of Flight can become,” Weeks told employees today.

Fantasy of Flight will close the daily attraction and focus on its successful events business. It will also turn the facility into what it was originally designed for, which is a restoration and maintenance facility that will be needed to build future attraction elements.  For those who wish to enjoy the historical aspects of aircraft, plans are to open an aspect of the collection in a reduced capacity and admission price later this year.

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General Aviation

Garmin Adds Synthetic Vision to Pilot App

Posted on by Shawn E. Bell

Garmin International Inc., a unit of Garmin Ltd. (NASDAQ: GRMN), the global leader in satellite navigation, today announced an updated version of the Garmin Pilot application for the iPad and iPhone featuring synthetic vision as an option for premium subscribers. 3D Vision incorporates GPS-derived airspeed, altitude, and vertical speed overlaid on rich 3D topographic landscape. 3D Vision is transformed when optionally paired with the GDL 39 3D, which superimposes back-up aircraft attitude information overtop the Garmin SVX display.

“With the addition of synthetic vision, Garmin Pilot takes a big step forward by offering pilots great situational awareness in all weather conditions, day or night,” said Carl Wolf, Garmin’s vice president of aviation sales and marketing. “When combined with the GDL 39 3D, attitude information as well as ADS‑B traffic and weather are all conveniently accessible within one application, further demonstrating our commitment to bringing safety enhancements to all pilots.” 

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